Former type Private Defunct 2006 Products DVDs
Music Founded 1989 Number of employees 700 Parent organization Music Zone | Fate Administration Area served United Kingdom Headquarters London Number of locations 82 Ceased operations 2006 | |
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Industry Entertainment retail, Record store Motto Music, DVDs and books at simple prices | ||
Music and Video Club or MVC was a British entertainment retailer which sold DVDs, VHS, audio cassettes, video games, and CDs of popular and specialist titles. At its peak the company operated 82 stores in the United Kingdom and also sold products over the Internet. The company closed in January 2006 after entering into administration.
Contents
History
Originally MVC was started by former staff members of Our Price who left after W H Smith bought the company. The company went on to be bought by Kingfisher plc in 1993, which later spun it off as part of the Woolworths chain in July 2005.
In August 2005, it was sold to venture capital company Argyle Partners for £5.5 million.
In December 2005, MVC entered administration with Kroll. In January 2006, 41 of MVC's stores were bought by one of its competitors, Music Zone.
On 25 January 2007, Music Zone, which purchased 41 of the stores from MVC, also went into administration. 67 former Music Zone stores were taken over by music and book retailer Fopp, including some of the former MVC stores. However, Fopp itself then went into administration in June 2007.
Membership
The "Club" part of the name alluded to the fact that consumers could only buy something from MVC if they were a member of the club. This requirement, to the average consumer, could seem somewhat superfluous, as a membership card could be obtained at the point of purchase, often without having to give any personal details, to "join" the club and validate the purchase. As a result, customers often found it easier to bin the card and get a new one each time, rather than to actually carry it.